Introduction
Lincoln MKX – 2007 Review: Lincoln says that the 2007 MKX is set to do battle against the Lexus RX 350 and other luxury crossovers, but after a week driving this new crossover, it’s obvious that it wields a penknife against a group of sharpshooters. On paper MKX has the goods. There’s a powerful V6 engine with a six-speed automatic, all-wheel drive of course, a nicely appointed interior and exterior styling that is probably the best looking of any current Lincoln. Yet the devil is in the details, and the poor execution of how all these features are put together hobble what could have been a compelling choice in the upscale crossover market.
What We Drove
Our test vehicle was a loaded 2007 Lincoln MKX. Its $36,445 base price includes a $675 destination charge, and buys you a 3.5-liter V6 engine and six-speed automatic transmission, stability control, dual-zone air conditioning and leather seating. The $4,795 Elite package added the huge Panoramic Vista sunroof, and a DVD navigation system that includes THX-II audio and Sirius satellite radio. The $1,995 Ultimate package tacked on heated and cooled front seats, auto-dimming side mirrors, a reverse sensing system and 18-inch chrome wheels. Individual options included a $295 Class-II towing package, a $65 cargo management system, $295 heated rear seats and $495 white chocolate paint, for a total of $44,385.
Performance
The 3.5-liter V6 engine puts out 265 horsepower and 250 lb.-ft. of torque. Floor the throttle and the six-speed automatic makes the best of the power for lively acceleration, despite the MKX’s 4420-lb. curb weight. The engine is on the loud side, with a sound that is several notches below this vehicle’s $44,000 asking price. The transmission’s six gears mesh well with the engine’s powerband, but there is no manual shift function, just an anachronistic overdrive on/off switch. It also takes its own sweet time downshifting, occasionally getting so confused in a power-on, power-off, power-on situation that it rolled in neutral for a second or so while the drivetrain computer decided what gear it should be in.
Handling
The MKX is a Lincoln, and any pretense of sporty handling is off the table. What’s surprising is that the ride is merely OK, given the amount of squat, dive and roll under acceleration, braking and cornering, respectively. Ask the MKX to take a quick corner, and you get nothing but howling tires and a nervous stability control system cutting off the throttle and activating various brakes; shutting it off results in early understeer. Off road, the softness of the suspension smoothed out uneven surfaces, but bottomed out even at be-careful speeds on the slightly rougher sections of our light-duty trail. Put short, the MKX is an unsatisfying drive on any road that isn’t smooth, flat and straight.
Visibility
From everywhere but the rear, visibility in the MKX is good. The front offers a commanding view, with a short hood and steeply raked windshield. The side mirrors are large, and the B and C pillars are thin enough that looking past them poses no problems. The rear seat headrests are intrusive if you’re looking directly behind you, and the rearmost pillars are ridiculously thick. Backup sensors aid reversing, but despite the navigation screen in the dash, a rear-view camera isn’t even offered, despite virtually every one of its competitors having one, which inexplicably includes Ford’s own Mazda subsidiary.
Fun to Drive
The MKX isn’t a chore to drive, but neither is it very fun. It’s basically a forgettable vehicle from behind the wheel, unfortunate considering its competition includes dynamic rides like the Acura MDX and Cadillac SRX. The acceleration is good, but flawed by noise and an indecisive automatic. The ride is adequate, but passengers – and maybe even the driver – can get seasick from the pitching and rolling; forget about tackling a winding country road. It’s shocking to us that the MKX loosely shares the same platform as the Mazda CX-7 and CX-9, both of which are about as different from this Lincoln as can be. Enthusiasts should shop elsewhere.
Front Comfort
Comfort is king in the MKX, and here Lincoln got it right. The front seats offer good support for long stints behind the wheel, as long as those stints are mostly in a straight line and won’t call on the weak side bolstering. The steering wheel adjusts manually for angle and reach, and the driving position is quite good. There are padded armrests on the doors and center console, and the door tops are also thickly padded, although the old-school lock plunger was exactly where we wanted to put our elbows. Also, our taller staffers found their right knees bruising against a poorly fitted seam on the center console.
Rear Comfort
Lincoln’s justification for not making the MKX a three-row seven seater was that it allowed them to offer a generous back seat. This pays off in reality, as there is ample leg, head and shoulder room in the MKX, as long as the driver isn’t too tall. Our test vehicle also boasted optional heated rear seats, a nice touch. An armrest folds down in the middle, complete with cupholders, but their poor placement means you either use the cupholder or use the armrest; you can’t do both. The center position is uncomfortable, but the outboard positions are very good. The seatbacks recline, and the cushion is high enough off the floor and long enough that even tall riders won’t complain.
Interior Noise
Around town the MKX is a quiet companion, with engine noises reduced to a whisper at cruise, tire noise low and outside traffic wooshes kept to a minimum. Get on the freeway and things get louder, with wind noise around the outside mirrors, noticeable tire noise and an engine drone that appears above about 65 mph. We were also annoyed by two rattles in our test car, one from the rear hatch and another from the driver’s door, which creaked over any kind of bump, steep driveway or any other chassis-related stress.
Loading Cargo
The two-row nature of the MKX means that there is plenty of cargo room under the power hatch, 31.8 cu. ft. to be exact. Two presses of the keyfob button open the hatch and another closes it; there are also buttons on the dash and in the cargo area. Liftover is low and the cargo opening is large. Power fold downs for the second row seatbacks open up the load area to a cavernous 68.7 cu. ft., but you have to manually put the seats back up when you’re done; the power controls are one-way only.
Build Quality
This is the third Lincoln we’ve had in our offices in the past couple of months, and the third with substandard build quality. Gaps on the outside were either large, inconsistent, or both. The front bumper cover didn’t mate properly with the front fenders, and was also a slightly different color. Interior misfits were too numerous to mention, but the more egregious examples were the transition from the dash pad to the center console, the uneven gap between the door and the dash, an unfinished edge on the poorly fitted headliner, and the large spaces around the navigation screen and other center stack buttons. This is inexcusable for this price category, and something Lincoln must improve to be taken seriously.
Materials Quality
The materials used in the MKX are a mixed bag. On one hand you have nicely textured leather, real wood trim and soft touch plastics on the dash and door tops. The center console lid is padded, as is the door-mounted armrest. Grains match on the hard and soft plastics for the most part, and the mesh headliner material is also used on the windshield pillars. On the other hand, those matching grains look lowball, the lower portions of the doors use cheap-feeling plastic that flexes easily, and the mesh headliner doesn’t fit right. Lincoln doesn’t use its own switchgear, it just paints the standard Ford stuff silver, about as luxurious as a New York street vendor’s “Rolox” watch.
Styling
The MKX is a good looking vehicle. The tight grid of the chrome grille and slightly inset headlights separate it visually from the lesser Ford Edge, although our staff was divided on its aesthetics. Overall we like the profile of the MKX and its Edge sibling, and the pearl white paint of our test car worked well with the light chrome touches. We especially liked the panoramic sunroof with its opaque sunshade. The interior otherwise hews too much to Lincoln’s qasi-retro theme, but its tri-tone colors, blonde wood trim and chrome accents look good. They make the Ford parts-bin switches stand out like an army of sore thumbs, but overall styling is one of the MKX’s strong points.
Storage
The center console bin on the MKX is so deep you could swim in it. The upper tier is lined, and the lower can hold a multitude of CDs or other stuff. It’s good that bin is so large, because that’s about it for storage. There are also two cupholders in the center console next to the shifter, small door pockets with bottle holders, and the ashtray has been replaced with a coin and card holder, but overall storage space is limited. In the rear are the two aforementioned misplaced cupholders in the fold-down center armrest, and there are also bins in the doors and pockets in the front seatbacks.
Infotainment Controls
Familiarity is breeding approval of Lincoln’s DVD navigation system. With Sirius satellite radio and THX-II sound, the audio system itself sounds great. Lots of bass, good high end, and an overall good listening experience. We’re not audiophiles by any stretch, but all agreed that it sounded excellent, and major controls are duplicated on the steering wheel. We do wish that the buttons were a little bigger, but it’s a minor complaint. The navigation system is simple to use, with an intuitive touch-screen interface that is quick to program.
Climate Controls
The climate controls in the MKX are the same automatic controls used in virtually every other Ford product these days. That’s good, because they’re simple to use and effective, but we do wish more than a can of silver Krylon was used to distinguish the Lincoln from its less expensive siblings. The heated and cooled front seats are easy to operate: three settings for heat and cool, with separate buttons for each. While the driver and passenger can have separate controls, they’re synchronized at the touch of a button, unlike some systems which either can’t be synched or require navigating a touch screen menu to do so.
Secondary Controls
The secondary controls in the MKX are easy to find for the most part, with a few misplaced items marring it overall. The controls for the trip computer are large buttons mounted on the center stack, near the climate controls; we expect them closer to the gauges most of the time. The window switches are located on the arm rest, but the seat memory switch panel is gracelessly placed in the middle of the driver’s wood door trim, where it’s hard to reach without contorting yourself. It would only look more tacked on if it were actually attached with tacks. Lincoln also needs to work on the feel of the MKX switchgear. The window switches are OK, but the rest feel junky for a car costing this much.
Competition
We find little in the MKX that would sway us against any of its competitors, and many vehicles costing significantly less. The Lexus RX 350 and Infiniti FX35 offer two rows of seats like the MKX, while the Acura MDX and Cadillac SRX offer three rows. All have the same features and boast execution leagues better than the Lincoln. Even if you assume a built-in rebate in the MKX’s price of, say, $5,000, one has to wonder if it’s still worth $40,000 when a Hyundai Veracruz or Mazda CX-9 offers a better experience for less money. To truly compete in its class, Lincoln must improve the overall quality of its execution and distinguish itself from the Ford versions of its vehicles.
2nd Opinion -- Blackett
Lincoln MKX – Blackett’s Opinion:
Lincolns aren’t what they used to be. I must admit, the styling is growing on me, I favor the clean grille over the mirrored treatment of the Ford Edge, and few complaints will arise around the comfortable seats and generous rear leg room. However, everything about the MKX says well-equipped Ford and nothing close to refined Lincoln. Though the leather is decent and the random surfaces padded, the switchgear feels cheap, the ride is loud, and the door armrests are plastic rather than leather. There was a time when American luxury meant Cadillac and Lincoln. Those days took a hiatus, but Cadillac has made a triumphant return with improved designs and quality; the MKX suggests Lincoln seeks a much less rewarding fate.
Thom Blackett
2nd Opinion -- Chee
Lincoln MKX – Chee’s Opinion:
Painted switches. Nothing better sums up the current state of affairs at Lincoln than the painted switches you find inside its vehicles, and no vehicle better reveals this distinct disadvantage than the MKX crossover. Sure, all automakers borrow from the common car bin when building luxury variants, but the MKX seeps of “Edge”ness. This just isn’t good enough in a market that includes the Lexus RX and the Acura MDX. It’s a shame, for the cabin is comfortable and nicely appointed, with light wood grain and soft leather, and the panoramic sunroof is very cool. The powertrain is also competitive, offering plenty of power and response, though we’ll ignore its handing prowess – or lack thereof. At 40 grand and counting, car buyers deserve more.
Brian Chee
2nd Opinion -- Wardlaw
Lincoln MKX – Wardlaw’s Opinion:
Our Lincoln MKX tester reminded me of a giant rolling marshmallow: white, soft, pudgy, with rounded amorphous edges. My wife-to-be, who owns a Nissan product similar to the MKX, called it utterly forgettable. That’s good, because it means the Linc didn’t offend her sensibilities. That’s bad, because anyone with a pulse strives for something more than anonymity. I liked the THX sound system with Sirius satellite radio, the panoramic sunroof, and the powertrain. I didn’t like the amount of squat, dive, and roll the MKX dished out during my commute. At $44K and change, I also expect more than a Ford Edge with a different grille and dashboard. Personally, I’d buy an Acura MDX or even a Saturn Outlook before this Lincoln.
Christian Wardlaw
(www.car.com)
